a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portal announcing system and method and, in particular, a centralized implementation of such system and method.
b) Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,930,607, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, a method and system were disclosed for providing an automatic announcement to a person seeking a particular portal in a facility that any particular portal is the one sought. The method disclosed therein comprises the steps of providing the person with a wireless, electronic transmitting and/or receiving device bearing a particular code, providing the portal with a corresponding wireless, electronic transmitting and/or receiving device bearing the particular code, identifying when the code of the device of the person which had been received by the portal device is the same as the code of the portal device and announcing when the personal code and the portal code have been identified as being the same to the person that this portal is the one sought.
Applications for this disclosed method and system have been mentioned as applicable to nursing homes (e.g., Alzheimer's patients), hospitals and the like. An audible announcement would be made when an identification match occurs such as “this is your room Fanny.” Infra-red or RF techniques have been disclosed as appropriate for such a system and method.